Thursday, August 11, 2016

New Stakes Created in French Polynesia and Honduras; New Districts Created in Ecuador and Peru; Districts Discontinued in French Polynesia and Honduras

French Polynesia
The Church organized a new stake in Tahiti on July 17th. The Taravao Tahiti Stake was organized from a division of the Mahina Tahiti and Papeari Tahiti Stakes. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Hitiaa, Taravao 1st, Taravao 2nd, Tautira, Toahotu, and Vairao Wards. The Tubuai Australes District was also discontinued and the five branches in the former district were reassigned to the Papeari Tahiti Stake. The decision to discontinue the district likely indicates plans for branches in the former district to become wards in the foreseeable future. No branches have been discontinued in the Tubuai Australes District within recent years.

There are now nine stakes and three districts in French Polynesia

Honduras
The Church organized two new stakes in Honduras.

The Comayagüela Honduras Bulevar Stake was organized on July 24th from a division of the Comayagüela Honduras Torocagua Stake. The new stake currently includes three wards and two branches: the Bulevar, Carrizal, and Jardines del Carrizal Wards, and the Ciudad España andZambrano Branches. With only three wards officially reported, it appears that either additional wards are assigned to the stake or both of the branches became wards when the stake was organized. These updates will likely be made in the near future. The organization of the new stake coincided with the discontinuation of the Talanga Honduras District. Organized in 1994, the Talanga Honduras District previously administered four branches - two of which now pertain to the Comayagüela Honduras Torocagua Stake. The remaining two branches in the Talanga Honduras District were reassigned to the Juticalpa Honduras District (previously the Catacamas Honduras District).

The Olanchito Honduras Stake was organized from the Olanchito Honduras District on August 7th. The new stake includes five wards and one branch: the Bellavista, Olanchito, Sonaguera, Tocoa, and Trujillo Wards, and the Coyoles Branch. Missionaries have reported within the past year or two plans for the district to become a stake. Originally the area was serviced by two districts headquartered in Olanchito and Tocoa (discontinued in 2009). The Olanchito Honduras District was originally organized in 1985.

There are now 27 stakes and five districts in Honduras.

Ecuador
The Church organized a new district in Ecuador on August 7th. The Guaranda Ecuador District was organized from a division of the Riobamba Ecuador District. The new district includes two branches: the Guaranda 1st and Guaranda 2nd Branches. Distance from Riobamba and prospects for greater growth in the Guaranda area appeared to have prompted the organization of the new district.

There are now 36 stakes and 10 districts in Ecuador.

Peru
The Church organized a new district in southern Peru on July 17th. The Majes Perú District was organized from a division of the Camaná Perú District and a mission branch in the Peru Arequipa Mission. The new district includes three branches: the Aplao, La Joya, and Pedregal Branches.

94 comments:

Hurray for Honduras! The country has been experiencing real growth for some time, based on my observations visiting a couple of times in the last few years. I served my mission there 2004-2006 and was overwhelmed at first with the stagnant wards and high levels of inactivity. The new Preach My Gospel missionary program, introduced while I was there, has emphasized retention and member activation and has really transformed the church in that country. I believe the new temple has also really strengthened members and helped with retention. It is exciting to me the growth that is reported to me from members there; it just keeps getting better.

Do we know where the new stake center will be in/around Fredericksburg and what it will be called? Is the standard for a mini-temple within 200 miles or two hours driving distance, or neither?I have a nephew going to the Cusco, Peru Mission so I look forward to finding out what the composition of the missionaries are and how they teach and baptize and potentially expand.Chile once had 100 stakes but it seems Peru has really done it. Way to go. Who's next?

I could see a San Pedro Sula temple. The church is robust up there. However, I believe Nicaragua will be first. Even with the Honduras temple closer than Guatemala, trips for the Nicaragua Saints to Honduras are difficult. A temple could really help the Nicaraguan people.

Eduardo, the current Fredericksburg Stake Center will be the Stafford Stake Center. It is located in Stafford County as are the wards (White Oak and Hartwood) that meet in it. The Rappahannock YSA Branch also meets in the stake center, but it is still not clear to me what stake that branch will be in.

The Fredericksburg Stake will move to the old stake center, on Bragg Road in Spotsylvania County, where the Fredericksburg and Chancellor wards and the Fall Hill Spanish Branch meet.

The current Fredericksburg Stake is blessed with two large stake center sized buildings, four multi-ward buildings (Garrisonville, Stafford, Massaponax, and Culpeper) and one "starter" building which the King George Ward is out growing.

Interesting in several European countries the Pathway program is piloting an entirely online program with the gathering held online. I can see benefits to this, but I still think the im-person gathering method is helpful. Grand Rapids will be at least the 3rd location in Michigan, maybe higher. My stake had 3 pathway classes this last year, one for those under 31, and 2 for those over 31.

I am glad to see the truly worldwide reach of Pathway. The Kumasi location for Pathway apparently will be the 7th in Ghana.

So does Indiana have one or 3? Indianapolis getting a 3rd stake a few years ago was a big deal to me, a native Hoosier. I wish some rural counties had more members as I have commented before, but places of farmland and forest make it that much harder to cover with missionaries and regular Saints. The University Ward of Bloomington has a Bishop who is retired from California, he bought his dream horse ranch (not Kentucky big) in southern Monroe County. Perhaps members moving around like this can help the Church spread more effectively than simple media and tracting methods.

Sad to see the Stampin Branch discontinued in Malaysia. I was serving there in kuching when that branch was formed and even helped with the split. When I came home in 2010, I thought Malaysia would have at least 2 stakes by 2013-2015. Wonder what's going on there.

FYI: Re: "the New London Stake (Connecticut) does not have a Pathway location" - actually it does have an active Pathway group meeting in Norwich, CT. The Stake was created too late in the cycle to have it listed separately as the NL Stake - but the cohort has over 15 registered students and is meeting at the Norwich, CT chapel. Next year it will be listed separately in the name of the new stake.

So does Indiana have one or 3? Indianapolis getting a 3rd stake a few years ago was a big deal to me, a native Hoosier. I wish some rural counties had more members as I have commented before, but places of farmland and forest make it that much harder to cover with missionaries and regular Saints. The University Ward of Bloomington has a Bishop who is retired from California, he bought his dream horse ranch (not Kentucky big) in southern Monroe County. Perhaps members moving around like this can help the Church spread more effectively than simple media and tracting methods.

In Puebla, one of the first Pathway sites in Mexico if not the first pathway site, was in an institute building in Valsequillo stake. At the time, you could be from any of the stakes within the region and attend. Knew a guy from Orizaba Veracruz that would travel three hours one way to make it to the gatherings, spend the night in Puebla, and go back early the next morning.

Another came from Cuautla Morelos (around an hour and a half by toll road, double that via libre). I came from Tlaxcala (1 1/2 hours distance).

Actually, if I understand what I have been told correctly, at first Ann Arbor was the only listed Pathway sight in Michigan. However while the 18-30 cohort met at the institute building in Ann Arbor, the 31+ group met at the Westland Stake Center, which is a different stake even. With the formation of the Bloomfield Hills Pathway program, I have no clue how the Ann Arbor one is organized, but I think it may have been partly due to having people from the Bloomfield Hills stake area in the group that it was felt the Westland Stake Center was a more logical location.

That's rich and incredibly hypocritical Johnny Boy - "I have to admit that even at the time I felt that was a needless maligning of the character someone didn't even know at all." Kind of like when you insinuated I was an apostate when you don't know me from Adam?! Why don't you try getting off your sanctimonious, judgmental, self-important high horse?

Perhaps he should have taken a softer tone, but his insinuation was because of the things you were posting and your belligerent attitude. "Judgmental" is a highly misused word in this day and age; no one is entitled to behave however they want without being called out on it. Granted, I don't understand why people assumed you were an "apostate" per se when I saw no indication that you were ever a member to begin with. Maybe I missed something. I do assume you've changed your mind about this blog being "boring", though, as it's clearly managed to hold your attention for at least a couple months ;) Have a great day.

Back on topic, that is great news about Honduras. Sometimes the news from Latin America is pretty discouraging, and I hope whatever they're doing right in Honduras will be figured out and replicated in other countries, especially Peru. Overall I'm very pleased with how the "Hastening the Work" initiative is playing out. It seems to be carrying to completion, more or less, what Preach My Gospel laid the groundwork for. When the mission age change was announced I admit my excitement was severely dampened (largely because of this blog) by the concern that we would just be baptizing thousands of additional converts into inactivity, which would help no one. But it seems to have been accompanied by a surge in caution, wisdom, and efficiency. "Hastening" does not mean "hasty".

The leaders of the Church seem to have made decisions that they want to see as much area as possible in stakes. The splitting of a stake into two districts in Mexico and the formation of a district in Nigeria from a stake this year are against that trend.

However the reports on events in French Polynesia and Honduras here seem to be part of a more general trend. The formation of new stakes in Paris and Rome a few years back, especially in the Paris case saw an entire district absorbed into a stake without any branches upgraded to wards. The Anchorage Alaska Bush District was divided up between stakes in Ancorage. The Patterson New Jersey District was moved into stakes in a rearangement in north-east New Jersey.

If I count correctly there are now only 7 districts in the US. There are 3 in Texas, one the Laredo District looks close to making stake status, the Wendover Distict in Utah and Nevada, the Pierre South Dakota District, the Potsdam New York District and the Traverse City Michigan District. In the mid-1990s there were at least 5 districts just in New York City. Phildelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC and Detroit all had districts as well, as did Patterson New Jersey and for a short time a bit earlier Camden, New Jersey. While the end of the district in Phildelphia and some of those in New York City coincided with the creation of stakes, the Detroit and some others were discontinued just by the expansion of stakes. The same applies to the end of the district in non-metropolitan areas of western Pennsylvania and I believe also the end to a district in New Mexico.

There are good reasons for this trend. The rise of inter-net technology has made it workable to broadcast stake conference to multiple locations even on just a stake level, so that large geogrpahical stakes do not create such a meeting burden. While stake youth activities among others still involve congregating in person, generally districts are too small to have functional youth programs so for example even when there was a Detroit District they still often came to the Bloomfield Hills Stake Youth Conference.

Having stakes allows mission presidents to focus on growth and supervising the missionaries. If you have the ability of local taking on these responsibilities it helps a lot. Also, having a stake allows a strong local brother to serve as a stake president, although occasionally foreigners serve as stake president, which gives a stronger impression of the Church being local.

One key to reconciling the nationalist group known as the 3rd conventionists back into the Church in Mexico was convincing them their goal should not be a Mexican mission president, but a stake in Mexico. True the first stake president in Mexico was an American, but it was not too long until Agricol Lozano became a stake president.

60 years ago there were no stakes that were designated as operating in a language other than English, and 50 years ago there were very few.

Stake presidents issue temple recomends, while in a district this is done by the mission president. It is also only in stakes that there is a high priest quorum.

Sometimes it is easy to dispute and contend online, and rhetoric is easy to rile up criticism.Not to rehash old arguments, but faithful LDS want to follow priesthood and appointed authorities closely, despite their human faults and errors. When the First Presidency and the 12 apostles, and other General Authorities are apparently attacked or criticised heavily, that van seem hurtful to devoted Mormons.Contention and defensiveness are some natural by-products of such dialogues. Which is something we should be better at overcoming.We can all question our leadership but the tone of how we do so casts us as types of people: pro-LDS, anti-Mormon, neutral or indifferent.Without ever having met any of LDS senior leadership, or maybe briefly conversing with one or two, it seems incongruous to level harsh judgments on them while getting angry that others, like in this forum, are hyper-critical of their criticisms.Make sense?Or accusatory. I guess what I mean to say is that when revered leaders are criticized, many wish to defend their characters, and in doing so may seem brash or ill tempered. Loyalty is often an emotional weapon for good and ill.It makes me think of Peter after Gethsemene or Porter Rockwell in Missouri. It can be difficult to hold back from striking when a beloved leader or principle is perceived to be attacked, maligned, or persecuted.Have any been to Philly open house yet? I will go in September!Excited about Concepcion Temple. I spent many weeks hours dedicated to people walking distance from it.

I grew up in the Potsdam New York District. The population of the entire county is so small, sparse, and stagnant that I don't see any realistic prospects for it becoming a stake in, well, ever. The Potsdam Branch where I was located was the only one remotely close to ward status and that's because it used to *be* a ward in the Montreal Quebec Stake before the district was formed in 2000 or so. The Massena Branch was discontinued due to its dwindled size (though reinstated a few years later when the economy improved slightly) and in recent years the branch presidents of both the Ogdensburg and Malone Branches were "expatriates" from the Potsdam Branch. I suppose it could be split up among neighboring stakes but given that it already takes from half an hour to two hours to travel between branches I don't know if that would be helpful.

I attended the Philadelphia Temple Open House today. My overall impression...beautiful building (good), crowded and rushed Open House (not so good). And I was not attending at a time when I would have expected great crowds (Tuesday morning). I overheard one usher say that they were expecting 6000-9000 guests today.

I had read several journalists' accounts of the tour and it appears they were told much more about the temple details than were given during the tour I was in today. Perhaps that's because they were asking more questions or just because the Church wanted the journalists to have more information to report. I went with a non-member friend, and I had to tell her most of the things that I thought the tour would mention.

I was able to pass right by a Utah temple yesterday and explain to a non-member and a less active member a bit about the covenants and ordinances done in our temples. It was cool to see that temple; maybe I had not seen it much for close to 2 decades.This is third time since 2012 that work has sent me to Utah; it has grown so much south of the Point of the Mountain!Passed up MS and KS; it could pass up IA in population in a few years. Or maybe AR before that.

Steven, you're right. Before the open house began for the general public, special tours were conducted for neighbors, journalists, VIP guests, and so forth. Those tours were much slower and less crowded, allowing for in-depth questions and explanations. I'm glad to hear your impressions of the temple were favorable! It's looks stunning from the photographs.

Thanks for the Pathway article update. I work at the Online Writing Center (specializing in tutoring Pathway Students) and noticed the definite uptick in traffic from Pathway students this last semester. Sounds like this semester is going to be even crazier, as we've dropped our staffing by a third (9 to 6). But I'm glad the Pathway program exists. It is a great resource for the good of many as they strive to grow their mental abilities, while still encouraging spiritual growth as well.

So the Addis Ababa Ethiopia District now has half as many branches as it did a year or two ago. What's going on there? Stagnant growth is one thing but I'm surprised to see such major decline anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

Utah surpassed Arkansas a few years ago. Utah probably surpassed Mississippi in May 2015. Using four trend equations and based the 2016-released census estimates from 2010 to 2015, Utah appears set to surpass Iowa between June 2019 and January 2020. However, the Census Bureau updates the entire estimate series each year, so next June I will probably get different estimates.

Virginia with the current series appears set to surpass New Jersey in 2027, but as there is a census between now and then, this will likely change long before that.

BYU is going through a couple of processes now:1. Trying to be accepted by the Big12 Conference, at least for football.This despite some pro-LGBTQ groups signing a petition to not permit BYU to join this prestigious NCAA Div. 1 association, located in the Bible Belt of Texas.The local law enforcement and BYU Honor Code hashing out how not to double victimize victims of sexual assault.Then there's the political mess of candidates: Utah will have its own guy (BYU grad) come in second, maybe.Way to go,Cougars!

The newly changed federal legalization of same gender marriage will lead to a wider call and justification for plural marriage. It will be fascinating how our (LDS) Church leadership, Divinely guided, will deal with those implications in the United States and abroad. I view plural marriage as an economic or biological crisis necessity, so perhaps a society would have to be in dire straits for that eternal principle to be re-enacted.Some LDS athletes have done well at the Olympics, right? Hopefully some of their stories are being spread. I hear about Taylor Sanders for the volleyball team...Do we have any LDS medalists from abroad?

There were reports of non-US Olympic medalists in some of those countries' media outlets according to something I heard earlier this week. Didn't say who or where, just that there were some.

The Big-12 is going to find itself basicallly in a 'damned-if-you-do', 'damned-if-you-don't' issue with the LGBT matter and religious freedom. The end result is not going to go well for them either way, some of the schools in the area involved as far as the other schools are also in highly-religious areas and thus not admitting BYU could prove problematic for that conference.

King of Tonga unveils a monument this week to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the LDS Tonga Mission and the arrival of the first Mormon elders to the island.Today 18% of the island population identifies as LDS (Wikipedia).

I believe Tonga has the highest capita LDS of any nation in the world.

I would not be surprised if Techiman, Ghana sees a district created by the end of this year. It has 4 branches, which seems like it would be enough to form a district.

While in general the Church has seen lots of outreach into less populated areas in the Africa West Area of late and good Church planting tactics, there is still a long way to go until the Church has permeated some of these areas.

For example, in Kumasi where one of the stakes currently has 19 wards and branchs, it is not that far out from the city to areas that are part of the Kumasi Ghana Mission Branch.

Just during the first half of this month Ghana has seen two new branches created and one branch upgraded to a ward. There are now 3 branches in Bidiami, Ghana, about as far south-west as you can go and still be in the Kumasi Ghana Mission. This is another potential location of a new district.

In fact if Techiman and Bidiami get districts, there will be no branches directly under the Kumasi Ghana Mission other than the mission branch. However the mission branch still seems to incorprate more than half of the mission area.

The banning of the LDS Church may have ended up having a positive effect on many; I have heard that Ghanaian politicians were amazed how Church funds were used to help the people of Ghana, not the other way around.

Probably over 90% of the area in the Kumasi Ghana Mission is in the Kumasi Ghana Mission branch boundaries. This includes Mankranso, a town 23 miles (and thus according to some distance calculators just over an hour's drive) from Kumasi. Mankranso is apparently a small town, but it is the headwquarters for a government sub-unit that covers just over 300 square miles and had a population of 121,000 in 2010. With over 2 million people in Kumasi it is probably hard to justify sending missionaries into all the small areas around it. This is especially true when auto-travel time is probably an unrealistic estimate of travel time for many people, since many do not have cars. It also may under-estimate potential travel time amplifiers. On the other hand there may be many groups about to become brnaches in other places in the Kumasi Mission Branch boundaries.

I got a new roommate a few weeks ago from Kumasi Ghana. While I was intrigued by this simply because the Dichemso stake he comes from is currently one of the two Kumasi stakes that have the most units in all of the church, I later found out that his father was the first stake president in Kumasi and now is the patriarch. In addition, I learned that after my roommate served his mission in Nigeria, he worked for the church for several years as a real estate analyst for the Africa west area. This makes him extremely knowledgeable about church growth, pattern, and future progression for the entire area which makes it even more interesting for me. Now he is in the MPA program at BYU.

The Stafford Virginia Stake was organized today. Wonderful stake conference yesterday and today. The new stake president for Fredericksburg is a sheep farmer from the extreme southwest of the stake--he stated he can see four stakes from his front yard. The new Stafford Stake president is my home teacher and has been first on my list for possible stake president. I said to myself just before Elder Calderone announced the new Stafford stake presidency (after the sustaining of the new Fredericksburg stake presidency), "well moment of truth-- is it Sant or Ladd?" these were the two names that have stuck in my mind for weeks. Sure enough President Sant was called and I overwhelmingly felt that it was the Lord's will. Then they announced President Ladd--former president of the singles branch as first counselor and I again felt overwhelmingly that it was correct.

Then the former bishop of one of the wards was called as 2nd counselor. When I was executive secretary to the former bishop of our ward, our bishop was the chairman of the stake bishop's welfare council. Every 4 weeks we needed a bishop to be available on a Saturday morning for the Richmond Bishops Storehouse delivery to the stake in cases order changes had to be made. Assignments were made a year in advance and I would send out an email to all of the then 14 bishops and branch presidents in the stake with the assignments and in the body of the email naming the bishop for the next Saturday and also the one for the next assignments. A few times around Wednesday there would be a response to all from the assigned bishop that he had forgotten and would not be available and almost immediately one from Bishop Brodie taking the assignment. That is what I remembered about him and now he is the 2nd counselor in the stake.

The new German-speaking unit in Italy is in Brixen, which is very much in Tyrol.

I have been thinking about whether the Church is International or World-wide. I am thinking there is a difference between the terms, and I am not sure which is which.

I think one way to look at it is one type of organization exists in large parts of the world. The other exists in a way that all parts of it are heavily influenced by the fact that it exists in all parts of the world.

I think the first is world-wide and the second is international. I think the LDS Church is a hyprid of the two.

The most historically international religious organization has been Judaism, where the members often have little to no connection to the nation in which they reside. However this was true in different levels in different areas.

The LDS Church until the mid-1990s was still essentially at heart an American institution that operated in other countries at some levels.

However some changes, that I think have accelarated in the last 25 or so years, are begenning to move in a more truly international direction.

It is not just that mission forces, and all levels of Church leadership in many parts of the world are becoming less American. It is that we have more and more missionaries coming on missions to the US from other countries. We have more and more non-American general authorities. More mission presidents and temple presidents are non-Americans. There is a Tongan man presiding over the mission in Zambia, and in neighboring Zimbabwe the mission president in from South Africa, a former area seventy, and his wife was a member of the Young Women General Board.

Other examples are people like the first counselor in the branch presidency in my girlfriend's branch. He is from Utah, and met his wife, who is from England, while she was in Utah visiting the missionary who baptized her, who just happened to be the best friend of the man she is now married to. Another example is at BYU at one point I had a neighbor who was an American whose mother was from Australia who was married to a Peruvian lady.

Which Sao Luiz is it? There's a city in Maranhao state west of Fortaleza that is substantial, but Sao Luiiz (literally 'Saint Louis), is a common name for many cities. Just like how names surface anywhere (there are two Houstons in Texas for example) this could be anywhere otherwise if there is another Sao Luiz that also had a stake by that name.

Visiting with old church friends and I learned their only son was bullied and pretty much pyschologically tortured by his Salt City based trainer, and lasted two transfers and came home. This makes my heart sick and also makes me want to conduct some interviews.Makes me feel a liitle violent, too, unfortunately.Anyway, pray for and support our missionaries. Don't be that guy, not even on the Internet.Christ was not mean or cruel. But he will bring justice to all, even the abusers, but especially the oppressed.

As an RM of the Alpine German-Speaking Mission, I have certainly celebrated that Brixen has a branch now. There has been a group in the city for about five years now and it has almost continually had two sets of missionaries assigned to it since. It's no surprise that this day would come. However, I'm glad to see that there has obviously been some real growth in the area. When I was there a little over two years ago, attendance usually maxed out at around 10, including the missionaries.

A few words about the assignment to Verona: It is likely for accessibility purposes. Brixen, which I believe has been supervised by both the Innsbruck and Klagenfurt congregations, has technically always pertained to the Salzburg Stake. Now, looking on a map, that makes more sense than putting it with Vienna, but it is still a very long and difficult journey over some of the least passable mountain chains of the Alps. By public transit - which is the main determination for Church accessibility in Europe - it takes at least 10 hours to get to Salzburg, one way of course. So while there are certainly cultural and language differences, sending Brixen to Verona makes a lot of sense logistically.

I have talked to some of the missionaries (including two of my companions) who served in Brixen, but neither had heard about which Mission the new branch would go with. However, knowing the area and culture, I would be surprised if it went entirely with Milan, and all German-speaking missionaries would be "kicked out." For some 90 percent of the valley Brixen is located in, and probably for a higher percentage in other more remote valleys (which often have their own languages), starting a conversation in Italian would probably be the nail in the coffin for even the most promising potential. There really is a lot of cultural shame and disgust about the fact that South Tyrol belongs to Italy - in fact, there are some South Tyrol native celebrities in Germany and Austria (Markus Lanz comes to mind) who are in total public denial of being Italian. I hope the Church takes note of that when drawing the new mission boundaries.

A couple of my ward served in the Brixen group for a long time. Creation of the branch was delayed, because of arguments (maybe a to strong word) where the branch should belong to. Like Pascal said the group was started through the Alpine German speaking Mission and members of the group were asked to attend the Insbruck branch once a month. The first presidency decieded that the branch should belong to the Verona stake. One of the reason may be, that all ther german stpeakers in the branch can also speak italian. The last i heard, was that attendnace was between 20 and 30.I non't know witch mission will send there missionaries there in the furture. Maybe the Elders in my ward know.

Apparently the Arizona Phoenix Stake was recently divided and the Arizona South Mountain Stake was created. This information came from my former Mission President and corresponds to growth in congregations and splitting of the Phoenix zone in the mission about 5 years ago.

I think I can Confirm that 2 New YSA Stakes will very likely be organized next Sunday. I have been notified that there will be a stake conference on August 28th for at least the 8th stake. Also the student questionnaire of the 8th stake shows that there will be a 21st stake: http://provoysa8stake.org/

Has anyone ever heard of a Church court trying someone for behavior or actions unbecoming a missionary, resulting in the early exit of a companion due to bullying or hazing?I think there might be due cause for such a case of a Salt Lake based former missionary, referenced by me above.I had a former mission companion excommunicated for stuff he did BEFORE his mission...I am not suggesting the same thing for this trainer/bully in question, but perhaps a formal court would do a few consciouses good, like the less active early returnee, his parents and family and friends, and the priesthood bearer in question who did the bullying. Such a shame, but I think priesthood justice coukd make a difference. Sorry I'm stuck on this, but it has been bothering me since learning about it. Of all places, on a mission!Well, I guess we need to pray for all types of reconciliation.

Back to Church growth: is the New Stafford Stake going to be in the DC South Mission?Can anyone do a percentage growth of converts or overall growth by language? Maybe French is leading the way? Since 2010?

I recall a message here a few months back that St. George would be closed for remodeling in the near future. I have also heard similar rumors about Mesa. It seems to me that we have several additional temples that could probably use a thorough renovation that resulted in a rededication, such as Salt Lake (dedicated in 1893), Los Angeles (1956), Hamilton (1958), Oakland (1964), Washington D.C. (1974), St. George (1877, 1975), Logan (1884, 1979), Tokyo (1980), Seattle (1980), Sydney (1984), Manila (1984), Dallas (1984), Taipei (1984), Guatemala City (1984), Manti (1888, 1985), Stockholm (1985), Chicago (1985), Johannesburg (1985), Seoul (1985), and Lima (1986). I suspect we won't see Salt Lake closed for an extensive renovation any time soon, although it was closed for 10 months in 1962/3 for an extensive renovation, but it wasn't rededicated, since, I presume, all the workers had temple recommends. Indeed, many temples endure a renovation without the need to be rededicated.

The stake creation resulted from the realignment of three stakes in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, including the Glendale Arizona, Phoenix Arizona, and the Phoenix West Maricopa Arizona Stakes. The Forth stake created is the Phoenix South Mountain Arizona Stake.

Seven wards came from the Phoenix Stake to Create the South Mountain Stake. This includes the Gila River Ward, Laveen Ward, South Mountain Ward, Trailside Ward, Vineyard Ward, Aguila Ward and Montana Del Sur Wards.

To Reconstitute the Phoenix Stake, Five Wards were added from the Glendale and West Maricopa Stakes to the three wards that remained. The remainder were the the Maryvale Ward, Cielito Ward and the Encanto 1st Ward. Added from the Glendale Stake were the Rose Lane Ward and the Manistee Ranch Ward. From the West Maricopa Stake was the Aqua Fria Ward, Independence Ward and the La Joya Ward.

The question that remains is which mission the Phoenix stake will be aligned with? The Phoenix Stake was realigned out of the Arizona Phoenix Mission into the Tempe Arizona Mission three years ago with the Creation of two new Missions in the Phoenix Metro Area. However, five of the eight wards in the realigned Phoenix Stake were in the Phoenix Mission a week ago, so it is reasonable to assume the Phoenix Stake will return to the Phoenix Mission and the South Mountain stake will take its place in the Tempe Mission. Meaning the new Mission boundary will extend farther along the Salt River.

There are 19 Stakes, 2 Districts, 135 Wards, and 33 Branches in Tonga. The 2011 census says there are 18,554 LDS members so identifying themselves--2nd largest church in Tonga. As confirmation, Elder Erich Kopischke on Saturday, before splitting the stake, said that a stake is about 1000 active and committed members. He asked for the number of active members in the old stake and was told 2500, at which point he said that that means about 1250 in each of the new stakes. Using that approximation, then it is easy to see 19 stakes being roughly 19,000 active LDS members in Tonga. There are 63,392 LDS members of record in 166 congregations a country of about 103,000 (http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/tonga). Two additional congregations net have been added in 2016.

https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/free-wesleyan-church-of-tonga says that there are 157 congregations in the official Church in Tonga (and 38,692 members).

The third largest church in Tonga is the Catholic Church. The Diocese of Tonga claimed 14,332 at the end of 2014 in 14 parishes.

I love the Salt Lake Temple, it's where I attend -- it's very interesting that the Salt Lake Temple has never been rededicated. It had never occurred to me. The Salt Lake Temple has been through several extensive remodels; nothing inside that patrons see is an original finish. The remodel/construction workers have not all had temple recommends; the policy to use approved and qualified contractors with a temple recommend as much as possible has not been followed. Even contractors who are qualified, with active temple recommends who offer to donate their work have been turned down in favor of paid contractors with no temple recommend. Knowing about these workers in the Salt Lake Temple and the extensive remodels it has had; especially in the 1950s and 60s, I don't understand what brings about a rededication. Maybe announcing a rededication is admission that significant changes have been made and no one wants to have people feel that the Salt Lake Temple has changed significantly since pioneer times. Folklore around the Salt Lake Temple that is not true is often propagated by even the temple workers who have seen the reality of the changes, and the reality of other false folklore in their line of work. It is misguided; but they want feelings for the temple to be strong. I think the building is incredible; amazing; and a great accomplishment for poor people who were in a wilderness, even if we're honest about it and how extensively it has been remodeled, grounded smooth on the exterior stone, built with mortar, and on sandstone foundation courses (only one course was removed). I had always assumed any extensive amount of work world result in a rededication. But it had never occurred to me that Salt Lake was only dedicated once. With Idaho Falls being rededicated next year, L.A. (dedicated 1956) will be the next-oldest temple to have only been dedicated once.

At a Stake Conference I attend last week in Dover, Delaware, the General Authority talked about the explosive growth in West Africa. He mentioned the Church has 275,000 members, and over 105,000 each Sunday at Church. So actual activity is higher, and very amazing considering the fast growth, hardships, and transportation issues.

Although transportation issues is the reason why well over 75% of the area of the Kumasi Ghana Mission is in the Mission Administrative branch. Although hopefully there are lots of groups scattered throughout that will make it to branch status before 2017 dawns.

With the dedication of the Sapporo Japan Temple I was wondering what percentage of temples were dedicated by President Hinckley. It got over 50% at the end of President benson's administration, and then was well over 50% again during President Hinckley's administration. I am not sure it ever was to the point that he had dedicated over two thirds of all temples, since a few were dedicated by Presidents Packer, Monson and Faust during the hey day of dedications from 1999 through the end of 2000. Although as of 2004 the last temple not dedicated by President Hinckley had been the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple dedicated by President Faust on July 30, 2000. During the time I was in the MTC 6 temples were dedicated, that is as many as had been dedicated in any single year until 1999. In fact it was a third the number of total temples as of the day of my birth. And I served in my native language and was in the MTC only 20 days.

Stakes and Districts Discontinued in 2018

About Me

My interest in researching the growth of the LDS Church began in 2002. I began this blog in late 2007 to provide a forum to discuss LDS growth developments and share information. I have also worked for The Cumorah Foundation since 2009 providing research assistance and resource development on LDS growth and missionary work. Since this time I have been interviewed by various media organizations and have co-authored with David Stewart our comprehensive work Reaching the Nations: International Church Growth Almanac: 2014 Edition. I have a masters degree in psychology and a doctorate degree in clinical psychology.